Google applies for classified ads service patents

Classified Intelligence, a classified advertising industry consultancy, broke the news after discovering patents applications filed by Google, as well as screenshots of the service.

The applications indicate the listings service would be called Google Automat and mention a web address, classifieds.google.com.

The consultancy claims the service would allow individuals and companies to develop and post classified ads, which can be found by search engines and placed on websites as Google AdSense contextual keyword ads.